by Brie L.

Packing necessities, leaving the rest
Rushing, running, cycling into hiding
Opening the small door to her new home
Squeezing and squishing to fit with the eight others
Hidden in the secret annex

Hidden, but not silenced
Words flowing out onto the page
Stories and thoughts tumbling out onto the paper
Wishing to be free from this cramped space
Wanting what she could not have
But most of all, hoping for the safety of her loved ones

She wished so much to be free
To fly like a bird in the wind
But she hunkered down
Away from the soldiers and catastrophe occurring outside
Away from the gas chambers and mass murderings of her kind
In a time when culture could kill you
She wrote

She wrote stories and dreams
Curiosities and memories
Oh, how she hated this cramped space
How much she wished she could rewind time
Stomp, stomp, stomping up the stairs
Yelling, screaming
Soldiers there to take her away
Not flying like a bird, but instead falling
Down
Down
Down

Separation from family, from friends
Trying to hold on until the wars end
Tiring and slowing
Until her heart gave out,
But still her memories live on

Memories where she is flying and soaring above
Telling the history of hiding
How a thirteen-year-old Jewish girl’s stories became some of the most read in the world
How these stories will inspire generations to come to write their own experiences
To speak their own minds
To never be silenced